Teacher Designer

Blog 8:  The Information Diet and its implications for my practice and student learning When I first read the book, one thought stuck out:  “ There is no such thing as information overload.  It’s not the total amount of information, but your information habit that is pushing you to whatever extreme you find uncomfortable.” This thought resonated through the rest of what I read.  I am in control of how much time I spend, what I spend my time doing, including what I’m actually spending my time looking at. So many of the thoughts expressed in the book are really frightening.  Reading how much the media is manipulated.  The information we are given via the major networks has been spun to reach the majority.  It’s not about accuracy, but about what will catch the viewers.  Money wins out over truth.  Our own tendencies to informational bias.  We read/watch what we are most comfortable with.  Again, a frightening thought, “Once we...

Blog 7:  Students as Designers & The Creative Spirit of Design Good learning designs engage students in using content to construct meaningful outcomes by comprehensively scaffolding students’ ability to design. There are so many important thoughts included in this!  Good learning designs engage students.  Isn’t that what we’re trying to do all the time?  When we teach a lesson and are frustrated because it seems that nobody was listening.  Good learning designs engage students.  What a great goal.  To design lessons where students are engaged.  It doesn’t take pleading or cajoling.  The students are engaged.  The students are using content.  They aren’t just spitting back something they’ve memorized.  For the content to have been learned and internalized to the point that students are using it.  Fabulous.  Students are constructing meaningful outcomes.  The outcome is meaningful to them.  We a...

Blog 6:  Affordance Analysis & the 5 th Design Principle As I understand it, Affordance Analysis is like a comparison chart where the Possibilities of a tool are compared to the Constraints (what it can’t do).  Fill in the blank, “I need something that will ______.”  This is a direct reflection of the 5 th design principle, “Good learning designs reflect technologies chosen after mindful consideration…”  Design, in and of itself, requires a lot of reflection on what goal is hoped to be reached, what skills are needed, what authentic activity would help students to learn in a meaningful way.  Now we’re reflecting on the piece of technology (or multiple pieces?) that would fit with the goal in mind.  I enjoyed the “play” activities from class!  Although I didn’t find either tool/technology useful for my situation, it helped me to understand what the affordance analysis was about.  Who would use this?  In what situations?  What...

Blog 5:  The Victorian Internet and The Learning Principle The Learning Principle:  Good learning designs engage students in “playful” activities at the edge of their knowledge and understanding using symbolic tools to develop and internalize meaningful thought. Clearly, our Lesson Design for this week needs to fit the message given in this principle.  I tried to come up with ideas that would be both fun and engaging while still developing the skills students need to have.  We’ll see in class if my lesson is on the right track! Each week it seems that the principles we discuss are centered on similar thoughts, just from different angles.  It’s been interesting to see the different approaches.  The Ends Principle, where you need to begin with a design problem (what is it you’re trying to solve?) seems to state an idea to keep in mind.  Begin with the problem and keep the end in mind as you design the learning. PICKLE really broke things down int...